Shreyas is the backbone of India’s middle order, says Rahul Dravid

India's Iyer is middle-order backbone: Dravid. Iyer's 128* in WC win vs Netherlands cements his role as India's middle-order backbone. Dravid praises Iyer's calm temperament & ability to perform under pressure. Van der Merwe: India well-balanced, tough to beat in semis vs NZ. Netherlands miss out on 2025 CT, but take heart from WC journey.

India coach Rahul Dravid described Shreyas Iyer as the backbone of their middle order after the batsman made an unbeaten 128 in Sunday's World Cup victory over the Netherlands to ensure the hosts won all nine of their group stage games.

Iyer followed up his scores of 82 against Sri Lanka and 77 against fellow semi-finalists South Africa with his maiden World Cup hundred in the company of fellow centurion KL Rahul as India scored 410-4 before bowling out the Dutch for 250.

The right-hander's back injury earlier this year had briefly left India without a settled batsman at number four ahead of the World Cup, with the team having already tried a dozen players since Yuvraj Singh's retirement in 2017.

"Shreyas is the backbone of our middle order and we all know how tough it's been for us to find a good number four batter for the last 10 years," Dravid said on Star Sports.

Speaking on Saturday, Dravid told reporters Iyer brought a calm temperament to the table in the high-pressure role.

"You just look at even some of his knocks under pressure, how he's able to actually bring the best out of himself under those pressure situations," Dravid said.

"Everyone will have areas they need to work on and improve. There's no complete batsman who can say 'I know everything'. At the end of the day, you have to be judged by the results you produce, the runs you score and when you score them."